Australian-based Technico Ltd. began operating a A$5.2 million seed-multiplication facility in China. It has a capacity of more than 10 million seeds a year.
The New South Wales company said more than half of this capacity has already been forward contracted.
The plant produces Technituber seed using a rapid multiplication of seed propagules systems, greatly reducing the time required to produce large volumes of high-grade seed material.
The Technituber seed is less exposed to disease and seasonal variations. It is capable of achieving high productivity, and low-unit cost.
It produces commercial quantities of affordable early generation seed potatoes within two field generations.
Technituber seed production facilities now operate in Australia, the U.S., Mexico as well as China.